Quality Time

Frontiers July 2013 Issue

Quality
time
Skill Enhancement Centers drill down on the finer
points of 747 assembly
By Joanna Pickup
16 BOEING FRONTIERS / JULY 2013 Crouched in the belly of a 747-8,
Nomer Nazario prepares to drill
a hole in a skin panel. Making
sure everything is aligned, he takes one
last, deep breath before he drills—the
hole must be flawless.
But this isn’t a one-time event. Structures
mechanics such as Nazario drill
millions of holes to fasten the skin panels
of every 747-8.
“Every hole has to be perfect,” said
Nazario, 747 structures team leader at the
Everett, Wash., factory. “If we find or create
a defect, we have to start over and fix it.”
Exceptional quality has always been
a focus for Boeing and the 747 program.
So when employees saw that some jobs
weren’t hitting the mark the first time,
they took action. In the course of a year,
they have made consistent progress in
improving performance.
The numbers tell the story. Overall
quality is up by 40 percent, and some
teams have reduced defects by more
than 50 percent.
It started with something simple:
daily conversations. At the start of every
shift, each team reviewed its quality
data—how many defects it had produced
the day before—then discussed how
the team could improve.
“Employees who build
our airplanes have one of
the toughest jobs in the
company—they make our
products come together.”
– Rick Palmer, senior manager of the Training and Compliance organization
for Boeing Commercial Airplanes
“The daily reports helped us focus on
how we were doing,” said Damian Terrell,
747 structures mechanic and team leader.
“Everyone became aware of where we could
make the most improvements, and we
started taking action to make a difference.”
Members of the teams led by Terrell
and Nazario pooled their knowledge
daily, sharing best practices and tricks
of the trade, such as using a different
tool or different angle when drilling. But
if employees wanted more training and
coaching, there were few places they
could turn. That is, until the new Skill
Enhancement Centers opened.
Launched a year ago as a pilot training
PHOTOS: (Above, from left) The 747
team of structures mechanics includes
Shawn Eveland, inspecting his work on
the fuselage of a 747-8; Todd Robertson;
Jill Jennings, foreground, and Nomer
Nazario, helping each other drill holes
with precision; Jessica Quach, preparing
to drill into the fuselage of a 747-8.
(Right) The 747-8 final assembly bay
in Everett, Wash. Bob Ferguson/Boeing